EL SEGUNDO — The familiar sound of the ball tickling the net as it falls through the basket filled the air as Luka Doncic stood on the court after practice on Thursday before the Lakers headed to Texas for Game 3 of their first-round playoff series against the Houston Rockets.
The last time the Lakers went wheels up to Houston, well, they had Doncic. The eventual NBA scoring champion was enjoying his best run since joining the Lakers; single-handedly clearing routes to victory, as he did against the Rockets on March 18 for their seventh consecutive victory and 10th in 11 games. Doncic stood in the corner of the court and roared at the Toyota Center crowd, responding to a heckling fan who inspired an impassioned effort from the Lakers star in a 40-point effort.
Doncic went on to win Western Conference Player of the Month honors for March, the Lakers’ back-to-back wins in Houston becoming further proof of a team that was connecting during the run up to the playoffs. Fifteen days later, Doncic slumped to the court in Oklahoma City, grabbing his left hamstring in what was diagnosed as a Grade 2 strain.
Two days later, fellow starter Austin Reaves joined Doncic on the unavailable list with a Grade 2 left oblique muscle injury suffered in the same game. Lakers coach JJ Redick said Thursday that Reaves – who started his return-to-play progression earlier this week – was continuing to progress and was upgraded to questionable later Thursday, ahead of the typical four-to-six week timeline for returning from his respective soft tissue injury.
But Doncic, who did go through light shooting drills on Thursday, has yet to conduct on-court work. Redick said earlier this week that Doncic could start court work “soon.” So far, a short-handed and weakened Lakers roster has navigated the absence of Doncic and Reaves while building a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series.
The Lakers have offense: through LeBron James in a leading role, with Luke Kennard and Marcus Smart filling the picture as they embrace their newfound asks.
Through two games, Kennard owns the highest shooting percentage (65.4%) and 3-point percentage (72.7%) for players who have averaged 35-or-more minutes this postseason. The Lakers have also started games well, scoring 33 points in the first quarter of each game.
“Just the pace of the game, obviously the intensity is up in playoff basketball, but I think we’re staying under control and we’re poised and getting to our spots, making the right reads and knocking shots down,” Kennard said. “It’s good for us to get off to starts like that, especially against a physical defense. But again, it’s: how can we do it for a full 48 minutes? And I think we’ve done a good job.”
And they’ve stunted the Rockets with their defense.
Yes, Houston star Kevin Durant – who is questionable for Friday night’s Game 3 with a new ailment (left ankle sprain) – only just returned for Game 2 in Los Angeles after dealing with a right knee contusion that kept him out of the series opener. But the Lakers have kept All-Star center Alperen Sengun from finding a rhythm. Sengun is shooting below 40% from the field in the series, making an average of 7.5 of his 19.5 attempts per game while the Rockets failed to breach the 100-point barrier in both games.
“It’s been fun, I’m not gonna lie,” said Lakers center Deandre Ayton, who along with backup Jaxson Hayes are tasked with defending Sengun. “Especially just having a team out there that have your back and everybody just dialed in on the defensive end. Defense (has) really been fun on that end with the communication, the terminologies we’ve created and practiced.”
Redick said Hayes and Ayton have done a good job of making Sengun’s initial catches in the post come further away from the basket, while also crediting the team coverages that have helped limit the 6-foot-11 Sengun from generating scoring momentum.
“They just did a really nice job of using their length and verticality to make things tough on him,” Redick said.
Less than two weeks ago, Redick inferred that potential playoff foes were searching for ways to meet the weakened Lakers in the first round of the playoffs. Now, his team is one of just three on either side of the 16-team bracket that took a 2-0 series lead.
Redick knows there is plenty of basketball still to be played. Ayton said Redick has emphasized not getting complacent, and James, who has been down this road now for the 19th time, has stressed that there’s no room to get comfortable.
Two wins from a second-round series against the top-seeded Oklahoma City Thunder, the Lakers are focused on Game 3.
One step at a time.
“This is the playoffs – anything can happen man,” Ayton said. “We want to handle business just like how we handled business here at home.”